The 1st match of World Cup T20 2022 is scheduled to play between Sri Lanka and Namibia on Sunday, 16th October 2022 at Simonds Stadium, Geelong.

Sri Lanka is playing this World Cup with the same team that was in Asia Cup 2022. They had made a couple of changes but the other players are almost the same. Dasun Shanaka is leading Sri Lanka. He is an experienced player and had played 74T20 matches for Sri Lanka where he scored 1126 runs with four fifties. The batting order of Sri Lanka is good but not strong as other teams in this tournament. Pathum Nissanka is the leading batter of Sri Lanka with Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka also had improved its bowling skills and the bowlers of this team were just outstanding in Asia Cup. The main reason why Sri Lanka won the title of Asia Cup 2022 was the best performance by their bowlers. Wanindu Hasaranga had a lot of experience playing in the conditions of Australia and we think that he will prove a game-changer in this tournament. He had played 44 matches with 71 wickets to his name. Charith Asalanka, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka, and Pramod Madushan are the leading bowlers of Sri Lanka in this World Cup.

Namibia had played good cricket in recent times and this is the reason why they are in the top 16 teams who are playing this World Cup. The T20 history of Namibia is good as they had played a total of 38 T20 matches where they won 26 and lost just 12 matches. They had faced strong teams in T20 cricket like Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and Scotland. Namibia is still a new and unexperienced team and they will get a lot of experience by facing some other best T20 teams in this World Cup. Gerhard Erasmus is leading Namibia in this big event of T20 cricket. The batting order of Namibia is good and it is filled with young players.

David Wiese and JJ Smit are two very experienced players in the squad of Namibia. David Wiese had played in different cricket leagues like PSL, Indian Premier League, BBL, and CPL. He can play a major role in his national team. JJ Smit is another experienced player who also represented different T20 leagues in the world. Divan la Cock, Stephan Baard, and Lohandre Louwrens are leading bowlers of Namibia while Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen, and Ben Shikongo will be handling the bowling unit. Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton and Zane Green are wicket-keeper batters in the squad of this team.

Sri Lanka had played just one match against Namibia where they won the match with a handsome margin of seven wickets.

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne.

Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Divan la Cock, Stephen Baard, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen.

We do not doubt that Sri Lanka is overall a strong team as compared to Namibia at least on paper. According to our match prediction, Sri Lanka is the favorite team who will win this match. Many factors make Sri Lanka a favorite team to win this match. Some of the key factors are mentioned as under:

• Sri Lanka is overall a strong and experienced team in T20 cricket
• The bowling unit of both teams is strong and experienced
• Sri Lanka has more depth in bowling than Namibia
• Namibia and a young team and had won some matches against the strong teams

Sri Lanka is full of experienced and young players in the t20 format. The batting order of this team is also strong and some well-known hitters of the t20 format are part of the squad of this team, so the winning chances of today’s match for Sri Lanka have been increased. The equation of who will win today’s cricket match prediction and who will win the cricket match today is mentioned as under.

Sri Lanka has a 60% chance to win this match
Namibia has a 40% chance to win this match

The toss will play an important role in the decision of all matches of World Cup T20. Having a good total on the board is always a big advantage in these kinds of big matches. According to our toss prediction, the team who will win the toss may choose to bat first.

The 1st Match of World Cup T20 2022 is going to be held at Simonds Stadium, Geelong. We had observed in the previous matches played here that the pitch here at this venue is good for batting. The track is slower than the others we have seen and helps the spinners quite a bit. We are hoping that the surface is bound to get slower and be a bit more difficult for batting in this match. A score of 170 is going to be tough to chase.

The weather forecast in Geelong is predicting some clouds around on match day but the weather forecast does not predict rain. We should be able to have a full uninterrupted match.

It will be updated shortly

Date: Sunday, 16th October 2022
Time: 04:00 AM GMT / 03:00 PM LOCAL / 09:30 AM IST

• Stadium: Simonds Stadium
• Location: Geelong, Australia
• Known as: Kardinia Oval/ Shell Stadium/ Baytec Stadium/ Skilled Stadium
• Time Zone: UTC +11:00
• Home to: Victoria

• Total matches: 1
• Matches won bowling first: 1
• Average 1st Inns scores: 173
• Average 2nd Inns scores: 176
• Highest total recorded: 176/8 (20 Ov) by SL vs AUS
• The lowest total recorded: 173/10 (20 Ov) by AUS vs SL
• The highest score chased: 176/8 (20 Ov) by SL vs AUS

Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Divan la Cock, Stephen Baard, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen, Ben Shikongo, Karl Birkenstock, Lohan Louwrens, Helao Ya France.